Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders

According to the National Sleep Foundation (2013), about 30–40% of the general population reports some level of insomnia during their lives, and 10–15% experience significant, chronic insomnia. For these individuals, medications to help induce and sustain sleep may be helpful. On the other hand, sleep aids pose potential concerns, namely abuse.

Some people exceed recommended doses, and some continue taking medications even after symptoms are no longer present. Others obtain medications under false pretenses, which is one form of malingering. Malingering occurs when clients make up or exaggerate symptoms for some personal gain.

Although mental health professionals may not be directly implicated in the client’s deceit, their unique position to receive more accurate and honest information than malingering other medical professionals presents ethical concerns.

What is the mental health professional’s role in these instances? In which instances would it be appropriate to break confidentiality due to a concern of malingering? How could the potentiality be planned for and avoided? Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders

For this Assignment, conduct an Internet search or a Walden Library search for at least one peer-reviewed journal article that addresses a counseling issue related to malingering and addiction in treating sleep disorders.

BY DAY 7

In a 3- to 5-page, APA-formatted paper, include the following:

A description and explanation of the major types of drugs prescribed for sleep disorders
An explanation of the potential for addiction associated with these medicines
An explanation of the issues related to malingering in the treatment of sleep disorders
An explanation of the mental health professional’s role in mitigating the potentialities of malingering

Support your explanations with specific references to the Learning Resources and your peer-reviewed journal article

REQUIRED READINGS for Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders

Lichtblau, L. (2011). Psychopharmacology demystified. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar, Cengage Learning.

Chapter 6, “Anxiolytic-Sedative-Hypnotic Drug Pharmacotherapy” (previously read in Week 5)

Preston, J. D., O’Neal, J. H., & Talaga, M. C. (2017). Handbook of clinical psychopharmacology for therapists (8th ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.

Chapter 15, “Other Miscellaneous Disorders” (pp. 161-174)
Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders

Murdach, A. D. (2006). Social work and malingering. Health & Social Work, 31(2), 155-8. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1093/hsw/31.2.155

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2014). Brain basics: Understanding sleep. Retrieved from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm#sleep_disorders
As you review this website, consider the types of sleep disorders associated with mental health treatment.

Instructions for Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part, and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly.

Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in, and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12-point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting a hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print it out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, including a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two-sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud, for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage the overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source

LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report, and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is a 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:

Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

Assignment: Malingering and Addiction in the Treatment of Sleep Disorders